Sunday, June 26, 2011

I saw a movie today that is surely heads and shoulders above any other documentary this year. In my Chimp Trainer's Daughter blog, I review Project Nim, a movie that will be released in July. I cannot speak any plainer... Any person who respects great apes, and who wants to understand them, simply must see this movie. If you want to understand the human betrayal of great apes, you have no choice but to see Project Nim.

I remember the first time I held a chimp’s hand. The first touch between human and ape fingers establishes a connection, and you never forget the soft leathery feel of a chimp’s palm. What should be an ordinary sensation is not. It is unforgettable and forever.

The problem arises when the chimp-human connection becomes subject to human arrogance, sometimes cloaked in love, other times defined by science, and often supported by stupidity.

Project Nim is the true story of a chimp who was taken from his mother to participate in a 1970s university research project on communications. The movie has all three components: love, science, and stupidity, all adding up to a level of human arrogance that is almost incomprehensible.

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This blog is the work of SHAWN THOMPSON, writer, university professor and author of the 2010 book THE INTIMATE APE: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Species. Shawn is now continuing to spread the good word about orangutans and the other apes any way he can.He is member of the board of Gary Shapiro's charitable foundation The Orang Utan Republik and will help writers and organizations promoting orangutans. He is also available to speak without a fee to any group that is interested in orangutans. Shawn lives in Kamloops, British Columbia.